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Saint Clare starring Bella Thorne will open this year’s Taormina Film Festival.

The July fest has unveiled gala lineup, including action title Twisters directed by Lee Isaac Chung starring Daisy Edgar-Jones; psychological thriller The Surfer by Lorcan Finnegan starring Nicolas Cage and Il giudice ed il boss, which comes from the director of Placido Rizzotto, Pasquale Scimeca.

The main titles are completed by three rom-coms with the British-Icelandic Touch, directed by filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur and starring Kôki; and two Italian films, L’invenzione di noi due by Corrado Ceron starring Lino Guanciale, Silvia D’Amico and Paolo Rossi; and Finché notte non ci separi by Riccardo Antonaroli starring Pilar Fogliati, Filippo Scicchitano and Valeria Bilello, which closes the festival.

There will be an international premiere of From Ground Zero that presents the “tale of untold stories” signed by 22 young Palestinian filmmakers who have filmed daily life in Gaza. As ever,...

The world premiere of Mitzi Peirone’s horror film “Saint Clare” will open the Taormina Film Festival, this year celebrating its 70th anniversary edition. The adaptation of Don Roff’s novel stars Bella Thorne, Ryan Phillippe, Frank Whaley and Rebecca De Mornay. It’s the first of four world premieres to screen at the outdoor Teatro Antico in the Sicilian town, which looks out towards Mount Etna, an active volcano, to the West.

Lee Isaac Chung’s highly anticipated remake/sequel “Twisters,” distributed by Warner Bros. in Italy, is blowing into town for its local premiere. Starring “Normal People’s” Daisy Edgar Jones and “Hitman” star Glen Powell, the “Minari” director’s film is a reupping of Jan de Bont’s mid-90s classic, with a James Cameron-esque title promising to multiply the mayhem.

Marco Mueller, who has taken over as the festival’s artistic director (see interview), commented...

Wissam Charaf’s Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous will open the Venice sidebar.

Abel Ferrara’s Padre Pio, Steve Buscemi’s The Listener and rising UK director Georgia Oakley’s Blue Jean are among the world premieres in this year’s Giornate degli Autori (GdA) , the independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival (August 31 - September 10).

Lebanese director Wissam Charaf’s Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous will open the programme in competition. The film entwines multiple love stories against the backdrop of Lebanon’s near collapse.

UK director Fyzal Boulifa’s The Damned Don’t Cry is also playing in competition. The film is a...

White NoiseCOMPETITIONWhite Noise (Noah Baumbach)Il Signore Delle Formiche (Gianni Amelio)The Whale (Darren Aronofsky)L’Immensita (Emanuele Crialese)Saint Omer (Alice Diop)Blonde (Andrew Dominik)Tár (Todd Field)Love Life (Koji Fukada)Bardo, False Chronicle Of A Handful Of Truths (Alejandro G. Inarritu)Athena (Romain Gavras)Bones & All (Luca Guadagnino)The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)Beyond The Wall (Vahid Jalilvand)The Banshees Of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)Argentina, 1985 (Santiago Mitre)Chiara (Susanna Nicchiarelli)Monica (Andrea Pallaoro)No Bears (Jafar Panahi)All The Beauty And The Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)A Couple (Frederick Wiseman)The Son (Florian Zeller)Our Ties (Roschdy Zem)Other People’s Children (Rebecca Zlotowski)Out Of COMPETITIONFictionThe Hanging Sun (Francesco Carrozzini)When The Waves Are Gone (Lav Diaz)Living (Oliver Hermanus)Dead For A Dollar (Walter Hill)Call Of God (Kim Ki-duk)Dreamin’ Wild (Bill Pohlad)Master Gardener (Paul Schrader)Siccità (Paolo Virzi)Pearl (Ti West)Don’t Worry Darling...

Abel Ferrara’s “Padre Pio,” starring Shia Labeouf as an Italian monk who gained rock-star status among the Catholic faithful, is among the titles set to launch from the Venice Film Festival’s independently run Giornate Degli Autori.

The section, also known as Venice Days, will see Labeouf back on the big screen after the actor — best known for his roles in the Transformers and Indiana Jones franchises — took a break from acting in 2020 following allegations made by his ex-girlfriend Tahliah Debrett Barnett. The singer, known as FKA twigs, sued the actor for sexual battery, assault and emotional distress.

It is not yet known whether Labeouf will be on the Lido to promote “Padre Pio.”

In the latest film by Ferrara, who is known for cult classics such as “Bad Lieutenant,” Labeouf puts in what Giornate chief Gaia Furrer called an “extraordinary” performance as the “mystic and feverish” Capuchin monk...